Ray: It was with astonishment that I read of the firing of Chris Grant as Cleveland Cavaliers GM
amid rumors of lax effort by players and poor team morale. Dan Gilbert is clearly an extraordinary
businessman, but he has not seemed to fully grasp that the Cavaliers are not Quicken Loans.

Yes, when the organization is floundering, it is appropriate to fire someone, but it would help
if the right person got fired. Gilbert stated that despite the team’s record and reports of
locker-room dysfunction, he likes the players and (coach) Mike Brown. He also stated that the team
has had issues playing as a team and chemistry.

Since when did it become the GM’s responsibility to build chemistry, or to make sure players
were putting forth effort every game? Even Gilbert acknowledged that the main role of the GM is to
build the team. It is then assumed that success or failure and how the team performs are all things
that are the responsibility of the coach, not the GM.

— Chris Dalheim, Galena

Chris: As the old saying goes, you can’t fire the players. And I’m not sure how Gilbert can
fire Brown after he has fired him once already and then admitted it was a mistake to fire him, and
he still has a contract for three more years. This is a classic scapegoat move, and classic
Cavs.

Ray: OSU had a three-point lead over Penn State with less than 30 seconds left. Penn State
brought the ball upcourt, and Thad Matta elects not to foul. Surprise: Penn State hits a
three-pointer and goes on to win in overtime.

Assuming each side shoots 75 percent at the free-throw line and each team has three two-shot
attempts the remainder of the game, statistics indicate that the team leading by three has a 94.7
percent chance of winning in regulation.

Hopefully Matta will consider this strategy the next time the pattern occurs, but for some
reason, I’m not confident.

— Paul Travis, Hilliard

Paul: First of all, only one of the five OSU players on the floor at that moment shoots as well
as 75 percent, so I’m not sure you can make such bold statistical assumptions. Second, I’m sure no
coach, but I think you save such tactics for under 10 seconds, not under 30. At that point, just
play some defense, no?

Mr. Stein: In a Super Bowl follow-up story in Tuesday’s paper, Tom Rock of
Newsday wrote that Pete Carroll, Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson are the only coaches who
have won a national college championship and an NFL championship.

Paul Brown won a national championship at Ohio State in 1942, then went on to not only defeat
the defending NFL champion — I think it was the Philadelphia Eagles — in their first NFL game,
35-7, if memory serves. The Browns then went on to defeat the Los Angeles Rams on Christmas Eve,
1950, by the score of 30-28 for the NFL title.

— Duane Standiford, Columbus

Duane: Right you are on (almost) all counts, your only slip being the score of the Browns’
victory over Philly in their NFL debut — 35-10, it was. That’s still grade-A work.

Editor: Why do they show the year of the Super Bowl in Roman numerals, such as this past one,
XLVIII instead of 48? It would be so much more simple and people could read it easier.

— Eddie Mintun, Dublin

Eddie: I can think of at least V or X reasons, but I suppose the main reason is to give the
game an inflated air of importance.